Dylan
by thehero-of-reichenbach
Summary: after "Fang" - Max is crushed in the months that follow Fang's disappearance. As Dylan takes his place as leader, tension grows. Max begins to find out that as long as dylan is the leader of the flock, all of their lives hang in the balance.
1. Chapter 1

Ever since Fang has been gone, I feel like... Like a whole chunk has been bitten out of me. Every memory of him and me always buzz around my head like a mosquito. Nightmares haunt me day and night. And every night I wake up screaming. No amount of the flock comforting me will help. I'm not the only one that has been hurting since Fang left... But I've been hurting the most.  
>Dylan keeps following me around the house like he's my Seeing Eye dog. I try to forget, but I can't. I've been warming up to Dylan and I think I'm starting the long process of getting over Fang but it's only been a couple weeks. Angel keeps telling me "only time will tell." and I think she's right. Dylan was literally made for me and... I have to accept that I will never see Fang again...<p>"I'm sorry, Max... It's my entire fault" Angel interrupted my thoughts. She's been doing this ever since Fang left. We still don't quite see eye to eye but I love her. I decided to finally get off of the old laptop and eat some lunch. Of course, as soon as I entered the kitchen, Dylan was at my side. I can't blame him. He was 'programmed' this way.<p>

"Hey, Max. Uh. Can you meet me on the deck in a little bit?" Dylan said softly and seriously.

"No problem." I smiled sincerely. I just ate a little bowl of cereal since I didn't feel like starting any fires by making grilled cheese. As soon as I finished, I walked out to the deck, taking my time. "What's up?" I whispered, a little disturbed by the intimacy of the moment.

"Come with me." Dylan grabbed me around the waist and flew out over the deck. I was holding back every urge to not kick him where it counts. He was holding me by the waist tight to his chest. I was marveling over how well he's gotten at flying. All I could see in the distance was a small patch of lush green. Lush. I'm such a marshmallow.

We landed smoothly in a meadow. It was breathtaking. Wildflowers were generously spread across the small opening. The grass was like that of the fairytale princess-ness and there was a small stream running into a pond. I gawked at the sight. "I found this place one day. I thought it might be a nice place to... Think." Dylan looked down at me and smiled. I noticed he was still holding me around my waist. I tried to discretely shrug out of his grip but he held me tighter. Next thing I knew, he turned me around and leaned down to kiss me. I immediately squeezed my eyes shut. Everything I knew about kissing anyone was only with Fang. This was too much. Tears started to form in my eyes. I tried to hold them back but the welled up and spilled over. I pushed him away as much as I could and jumped into the air. "Max!" He yelled after me. I ignored him and poured on the speed. My tears were stinging my eyes but I didn't care. I got back in seconds. I ran inside and into my room. I saw the laptop with Fang's stuff on it still on my bed.  
>The only thing that kept me from throwing it across the room was a small knock on the door, followed by Angel's voice. "Max? Can you let me in?" I wiped my tears away and composed myself. I knew that wouldn't fool her but it was worth a shot.<p>

I opened the door and gave her my best, convincing "Yo."

"Don't 'Yo' me I know exactly what happened." She was concerned with me. All I could do was drop to my knees crying.

"I miss him so much... I love him. I will never love Dylan as much as I love Fang! I don't care if he's the last guy in the universe! I need Fang back..." I sobbed. "Come back..." I whispered to myself. 


	2. Chapter 2

Angel stroked my hair. I could count on one hand how many times anyone has seen me cry. Ever since... He left; I've been running out of hands. I've broken bones and laughed about it... "But a broken heart is no laughing matter." Angel said, interrupting my thoughts. But the only reason was... He was there to-... I can't even think about him without my heart aching.  
>The rest of the day felt like I was just a zombie... I only answered direct questions to me. I focused on what I was currently doing and didn't show emotion. I didn't laugh, talk, or even eat. All of this is to keep from thinking of him. I walked into my room, a hollow shell of what I was this morning. I didn't dare look at the laptop, open on the floor. Now, All I can do is lie in bed, waiting for the crushing numbness of semi-consciousness to pull me under.<p>I woke up in a cold sweat to the ever so wonderful sound of someone breaking in. I ran to the bathroom-where it was coming from. As soon as I peered into the doorway, I saw Fang's back to me, crawling out of the window. "Fang!" I called after him. I tried to grab hold of his foot, but he slipped out of my grip. Gone forever. With nothing left but his cold letter. "FANG!" I yelled after him yet again through the choking sobs. Then I woke up. I screamed myself awake to the same nightmare. Again.<br>You would think that after a while of the same nightmare, you wouldn't be scared of it. This is completely different. It absolutely kills me that I can't stop him from leaving. I can never get out of bed fast enough to catch him. I can never be fast enough.  
>The lights started turning on in as my sobs grew louder and louder. I buried my face in my pillow and got ready for Dylan to come in. After the display I gave him yesterday, I didn't think he'd be so confident. But I was wrong. I picked my head up just enough to see the outline of him.<p>

"Max, are you-" He reached out to touch me.

"Get out of here!" I shrieked. "You don't belong here!" I yelled even louder. "You re not Fang! You never will be! You can't replace him! I don't care if you even looked like him! I love him! I don't love you!" The damned tears welled up and spilled over. "Not even a little... Not even at all." I whispered then buried my face in my pillow again and waited for the numbness.  
>I didn't sleep the rest of the night. In the morning, when we went to go get breakfast, everyone stayed well away from me, especially Dylan. I pulled down a box of cereal from the cupboard, and poured it into a bowl. Something fell into the bowl that wasn't cereal. A disc in a sleeve that said 'Max<p>

I went over to the den and placed the disc into the player. The flock followed. Fang appeared on the screen in his suit he wore the day he left. A shocked gasp escaped my lips.

"Hey, Max." Fang said and smiled one of his quick smiles. "If you re watching this, then the flock must be there too. And you must have also gotten my note." He sighed. "I really hope you got this before too long because I have a few things to say that I didn't get to say in the note. Dylan, I want you to stay the hell away from Max until she actually invites you. Nudge, please don't go crazy on the computer anymore. They need to use it too. Gazzy and Iggy, take it easy on Max, she doesn't need anything blowing up. Angel, I know you and Max don't get along very well, but you are the only one that fully knows. Try to be there for her. And last, but certainly not least, Max... Please try not to go completely mad. I want you to be happy and safe. Try to warm up to Dylan. We both know that sooner or later, you ll have no choice. I need you to be there for everyone because me being gone isn t going to just affect you. You need to take a step back and remember that you re still the leader of this flock. I m sorry I can t be there for you, but now you need to get up and face it." He sighs.  
>The tears were assaulting me again and I couldn't blink them back. I could see the almost invisible twitch in his jaw.<p>

"I Love you, Maximum." He continued. "I hope you and Dylan are happy together... Goodbye for twenty years." Fang nudged the camera but didn't turn it off. He started pacing then went into the bathroom, placed his note and sighed. "I m sorry New York City, here I come." He sighed reluctantly and jumped out the bathroom window. 


	3. Chapter 3

I didn't know how long I went without breathing. All I knew was that I saw the ground coming up to my face fast and I couln't do anything about it. This has happened to me before-blacking out-but it would only happen when an eraser punched me in the gut. All I could feel was the cold numbness washing over me as I hit the ground. The last thing I heard was Dylan intimately whispering in my ear.

"It's okay, Max. You'll be okay." I'll be okay? I know where the love of my life is and your'e telling me it's okay? What the hell? Then I went totally unconcious.

I woke to the intoxicatingly sweet smell of Dylan's cologne. It took a while to realize that Dylan was almost sitting on top of me. The fogginess in my brain took a little to long because Dylan took my glazed over eyes as an "Okay, go" because he leaned down to kiss me.

That high turned to disgust when I completely came to. "Get off of me." I grunted and pushed him off. I started out the room as Dylan grabbed my fore-arm with amazing force, I might add.

"Just admit it, Max." He growled. I turned to see his amazing face twisted into a hard grimace.  
>"Fang isn't coming back."<p>

"I don't know what your'e talking about." I said in a dead tone.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about! He left you because he doesn't love you."

"He left because he cares about me." The words came out in a barely audible whisper.

"If he really cared about you and your well-being, he wouldn't have left! Don't even think about gong to New York because he's not there! It's all a rouse. He never loved you, he never cared, he's never coming back, and you'll never find him!" He spoke the words with precision. Like he planned everything.  
>"Just accept that you and me will have to be together now. We were made for eachother." He said softly and carfullyas if he were trying to tell a small child. "Give up." That struck home.<p>

"How about I give you my list of nevers? I WILL NEVER GIVE UP," I started shouting. "YOU WILL NEVER TOUCH ME LIKE THIS," I twisted my arm out of his grip and pushed him up against the wall. "WE WILL NEVER BE TOGETHER, I WILL NEVER LOVE YOU AND MOST OF ALL, I WILL NEVER STOP LOVING FANG BECAUSE HE DOES CARE ABOUT ME! HE HATES YOU SO MUCH! AND NOW I SEE WHY!" I pinned him to the wall and lowered my voice to a whisper. "I'm going to New York to find him and there is nothing you can do to stop me." I turned to walk out the door then said over my shoulder.  
>"And if you ever talk to me like that again, that pretty face of yours won't be the only thing that's broken.<p>

I flung myself off the deck and snapped open my wings, letting the bliss flow over me. Flying had aways had a way of partially relaxing me. I loved the sensation of the wind blowing through each and every one of my feathers. It was intoxicating.

I found myself quickly approaching the silly meadow Dylan showed me. I decided to tuck in my wings and drop into a nearby tree. The branches towards the top of the tallest tree were precariously thin but sturdy enough to support my bird-kid body. I could see everything from up here. Anything for miles and miles with help from my raptor vision.

That video Fang left for us started to creep into my brain. Those things he said. "We booth know that sooner or later, you'll have no choice," What did he mean by that? Did he really think I wasn't going to try to find him? Did he really think that I'd give up on him and go for that preppy, pretty, blonde, muscley dream boy they created to tickle my fancy?

It's times like these when I really needed Angel to get in there and sort through my thoughts for me. She was always so good at seeing things for what they really are. True, we didn't really see eye to eye anymore but I knew that deep down, MY Angel was still there.

"Angel," I thought as hard as I could, "Come find me. I need you." I didn't really think she'd hear it but-

"On my way." Her voice entered my thoughts. That's my girl. 


End file.
